


In the way that matters

by Calculatrice



Category: Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: Gen, Introspection, Post-Canon, Set the night before Naegi & co. leave them on the island, Understanding, Understanding lack of understanding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 10:34:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30054132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calculatrice/pseuds/Calculatrice
Summary: It's something of a miracle, that decision, just as much as the shorn hair, just as much as the faded scars stretched over a forehead. Hinata catches notice of him, and Makoto can tell he knows this will be their last conversation."Hi," Makoto offers, sitting down next to him."Hello," Hinata nods.
Relationships: Hinata Hajime & Naegi Makoto
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	In the way that matters

There's a look of quiet contemplation on Hinata's face when Makoto finds him, sitting idly by the tanks.

The change from white lab lights to warm yellow, from a setup not needing lights at all to having them on all the time, was the first action all the awoken Remnants had taken.

_"It is a fact that harsh lighting can be just as detrimental on the psyche as darkness," Sonia had insisted, this insistence a little colder than it had been in the simulation. "It will not be so here."_

_"This room's never gonna be empty until we wake everyone up," Hinata had shrugged, open and not Izuru. "And if someone comes home, it would suck if they got blinded by fluoro before even waking up properly."_

It's something of a miracle, that decision, just as much as the shorn hair, just as much as the faded scars stretched over a forehead. Hinata catches notice of him, and Makoto can tell he knows this will be their last conversation.

"Hi," Makoto offers, sitting down next to him.

"Hello," Hinata nods. 

There's a pause as Makoto contemplates how to say any of this. He has to tell him he's going to leave, obviously. He has to tell him about the supply ships and the timeline and all sorts of logistical things. He wants to tell him that he's happy for them, he's proud of what they're beginning to build. He wants to tell him he trusts them out here. He needs to tell him that he will make sure the Future Foundation supports them fully, that he'll oversee that support.

Hinata does it for him instead. "The three of you are leaving tomorrow morning."

"Yes," agrees Makoto, and this is as good a place as any. "We can't leave any Foundation staff with you to help yet, since I haven't... convinced them of all this yet, but—"

"That's fine," Hinata interrupts. He must notice his own curtness, though, because he offers a wan smile. "We have enough skills between us to take care of our own."

He doesn't think Togami nor Kirigiri would want to let the veiled hint at Izuru go, but Makoto's the one having this conversation, so he does. Still, he takes note of the way Hinata’s voice falls from reassuring to flat midway through his last sentence. Takes note of the slight scrunch of his nose, his glance to the side.

"I get that," Makoto says. "But all the same, when we can, I'd like for us to help. Medical staff, maybe psychotherapists, as soon as we can."

Hinata gives him a long look. There's a mechanical pencil flipping and spinning in his hand in a dextrous show, impressively so, and Makoto takes the second to wonder. Hinata had been the one to wake up, that was clear in his resolute eyes and the way he'd immediately set to cut his hair, grimacing at the tangle. It was also clear he had memories of his time as Izuru from the few questions he answered about Hope Peak’s underground, promising he had control.

But Makoto wonders if Izuru still exists in full, how close he sits to the driver's seat. Or if Izuru can be called a separate existence at all.

"Maybe," Hinata finally says, the pencil stilling and startling Makoto out of his thoughts. "Not now, though. And not soon."

Makoto just blinks, hoping he'll elaborate. And he does, voice suddenly flatter, smoother.

"I don't want any of the Foundation near us." Hinata's mouth curves in an apologetic smile that doesn't touch his eyes. "We're... not really equipped for that right now."

"I understand."

"You don't, though." He pinches the bridge of his nose, looking tired. "I... we..."

Makoto waits. He has no clue where this is going.

"We were _despair,_ " Hinata says finally. "What we managed to decide in the sim— I'm glad, truly, that the three of you came to help us," he cuts himself to say, forcing emphasis on _truly._ "I don't think any of us would disagree on that. But you have to know, when we learned what we were, what had been done to us, what we'd _done..._ "

Hinata blinks, slowly. His face has barely shifted at all, despite his struggling speech. Makoto wants to help him, to reach out and touch, but direct assistance hasn't been well-received, to put it lightly, by any of the past Despairs. He somehow doubts Hinata is any different, despite his willingness(?) to talk.

"When you talked so determinedly about hope at that trial," Hinata finally settles on. "I honestly hated you."

Ah.

"A lot," he clarifies. "I still do, a little."

"I... see," Makoto says, a bit weakly, because what do you even say to that?

"We're here to atone," and now Hinata's voice is back to flat again, and Makoto is beginning to understand that the lack of inflection is his standard, his most comfortable, and not the other way round as he'd thought. "We're here to be better. To take care of each other. But we're never going to be like all of you, you get that, right?" He turns to look his way, and the scar suddenly stands in sharp relief, the red tint in his eyes visible even under the yellow light.

"I wouldn't ask that," Makoto stands his ground, sure of this, at least. He can’t help his frown even at the thought. To force someone towards something that doesn’t resonate is just a different kind of despair. Even Togami, with his inherent distaste for them, wouldn’t wish them that.

Hinata pins him with an assessing look, before nodding. "We need the space... to hate it, a little. To be a bit vicious to each other in a way none of your foundation would approve of." He pauses, a brief swallow. "We just can’t... _hope_ the way you do."

And it's Makoto's turn to assess that, go back through the conversation, the statements, the evidence. It pains him to agree with this, especially when the very act of living in this situation is an act of such obvious hope, but that’s no real contradiction for a breakthrough, and he has to acknowledge that maybe this is something he can't understand.

"I won't ask that of you." Makoto decides to say. And, remembering the original topic of discussion that led up to all this, "I promise. The Foundation won't interfere without your approval. _All_ of your approval."

“You’ve made us a lot of promises,” Hinata laughs softly, but his shoulders slump. "Thank you."

"Thanks for." Makoto hesitates, not sure how to word this. "Not hiding it, I guess. And explaining it to me."

"Yeah," Hinata breathes. "Sonia says trust needs to go both ways, and I agree with her."

"Good, that's— good."

"Mmhm."

And then they're quiet again, Hinata reaching out to rest a light hand on the tank in front of him. Makoto can't tell whose it is without standing to look in the window, and he can't bring himself to do that yet. Hinata's expression still hasn't changed, his hand doesn't move, but his eyes shut for a long moment, and this Makoto can understand.

 _We're never going to be like all of you_ , was it? But in this most important regard, they already are. In the way Fuyuhiko had spent his entire first day awake at Peko's side, and the way they'd all spent it with him. The tight grasp of Akane's hand around Sonia's as they struggled through their first meal. Soda's blank look at the bedsheets when he'd woken up until Hajime tore a spare computer, cables and all from the Sleep Room and dropped it in his lap.

"Well, I'm going to get some sleep," Makoto announces, standing. The things he actually came to talk about seem like nothing, now. Worthy of a note or email at worst. "Early trip and all."

Hajime glances up at him, and smiles very slightly. It's forced, but genuine. "We'll see you off."

At the door, he allows himself one more look back into the room. The warm lighting, the soft green glow of the tanks. Hajime, hand still on the tank before him and showing no signs of moving, face blank with an expression that hasn't relearned how to be gentle yet. And finally, Makoto can leave.

He can trust this.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm several years late but i wrote this in a rush after finishing the game to get rid of my Feelings
> 
> something I found interesting about the end of SDR2 was just how... _bitter_ I felt towards Naegi and the rest during the last trial, when I was deep into the empathy of the remnants' perspective. after the game, it's more clear to think that Makoto is Your Boy, that he also had to pick hope in a hopeless situation, and he asks his closest friends to make those kind of difficult choices as well, but during the trial it's like... how dare you, the person who Stayed Good and Won the last game, talk about ideals to _these_ kids? not to mention the fact that his Hope option was presented in a way that was just as scary and difficult as Junko's despair. so that inspired this little OS.


End file.
